As is well known in the art, electrophotographic devices such as printers, scanners, copy machines, and the like include a scanning unit for imaging an item to be scanned prior to transferring that image to, e.g., paper, transparencies, photographic paper, or a digital image storage means. A light source is provided in association with that scanning unit, which creates a light image of the media sheet to be scanned or copied. One or more media trays are also typically provided, for holding multiple sheets of a particular media onto which the image is to be transferred, such as paper, photographic paper, plastic or polymer transparency sheets, etc. A control panel, the appearance and design of which varies widely from device to device, is also provided to allow a user to input the desired commands to the device.
A typical electrophotographic device includes also one or more photoconductive members, such as a photoconductive drum or belt, which may be charged to a substantially uniform potential for transfer of a latent image thereto. Broadly, a conventional electrophotographic device exposes the photoconductive member to a light image of a document, drawing, or other image to be transferred to media, providing an electrostatic latent image of the document. The latent image is then developed by applying a developer such as a dry, granular toner, although a liquid developer may also be employed. The toner electrostatically adheres to the latent image, and is then transferred to a media sheet passed thereover. The toner may then be fused to the media sheet by application of heat. Of course, toner of one or more colors may be used, in accordance with the user's preference for a black-and-white only image or a color image.
Generally, electrophotographic devices of the type contemplated herein also desirably include one or more media output options, to which the media bearing the transferred image is delivered for retrieval by a user. Such output options may be the final stop in a media path defined by the path of travel of a sheet of media as it receives a copied image as discussed above. An output option may be as simple as a single tray to which all media sheets bearing the transferred image or images are delivered without further processing.
However, it is known also to provide more sophisticated media output options which present a finished product, that is one or more media sheets containing copied images. A non-limiting list of examples of such media output options may include a multi-bin “mailbox” output option, which segregates individual collated copies of a copied or scanned multi-page document in separate trays or bins after a copying or scanning action. Similarly, it is known to provide an automated fastener output option such as an automated stapler, for fastening multiple collated media sheets forming a single multi-page document. Still further, offset stacker output options are known, wherein collated media sheets forming multiple copies of a particular multi-page document are delivered to and vertically stacked in a single tray without fastening or segregating in different bins or trays, but wherein each copy of the multi-page document is slightly offset from both the preceding and the following copy for ease of retrieval. Such output options must be included as part of the path through which a media sheet travels from imaging to developing to fusing as discussed above, and are usually the final stop or endpoint of that media path of travel prior to retrieval by a user. That is, because a media sheet is a physical item traveling through a defined path of travel in an electrophotographic device, it is uncommon for media output options to be positioned remotely of the device.
The scanning unit, light source, photoconductive member, and media trays are typically considered essential components of an electrophotographic device. In other words, without at least those basic items, the electrophotographic device cannot perform its most basic function of transferring an image from one media sheet to one or more different media sheets. Accordingly, those items are typically provided internally of the electrophotographic device housing. Similarly, a source of toner or other developer is typically provided internally of the housing. That is, a particular “footprint” is defined by an external dimension of the electrophotographic device. That footprint determines the amount of horizontal space required to accommodate the device, and the items listed above are typically positioned within that footprint. Most commonly, a sheet feeder of the type noted above is positioned vertically atop a lid placed directly above the scanning unit contact glass, and therefore also does not extend outside of the device footprint.
Typically, media output options such as those described herein are provided as “add-ons” attached to the electrophotographic device, and as noted above typically form an endpoint of the media path of travel through the device. Most commonly, output options such as a mailbox, an offset stacker, and the like must be physically attached to one side of the electrophotographic device or to the front of the device to allow them to integrate into the media path of travel, and therefore extend beyond the device footprint. Undesirably, this increases the space required for the electrophotographic device, which space may be at a premium. Still further, because of the limited space available for placing output options on the side or front of the typical electrophotographic device, often the customer must elect a particular set of output options at the time of acquiring the device. The user may not be able to conveniently reconfigure the electrographic device to include additional output options without removing existing output options, due to considerations of available space on the device.
Accordingly, a need is identified in the art for an electrophotographic device providing a range of media output options, wherein the output options do not increase the device footprint and/or external dimension. Desirably, a plurality of such output options will be provided and made interchangeable within the electrophotographic device. In this manner, the user need not be restricted to a particular set of options, but may reconfigure the device output options as needed in accordance with the preferred media output desired for a particular job.